Monday, September 22, 2008

Dinner at King of Thai Noodlein Alameda, Calif.

On Saturday night we checked out the new King of Thai Noodle on Park Street. It's been open a month, in a spot that used to be a Bulgarian bakery and then a Mexican restaurant.

Alameda's King of Thai Noodle is the newest in a chain of 13 restaurants in the Bay Area. The space is bright and clean and was filled with customers. (When we were looking at the window menu earlier in the day, a woman going in stopped and said "This place is great. You won't be disappointed.")

We started with Som Tum, a green papaya salad with long beans, tomatoes, peanuts and dried shrimp in a tangy lime dressing. Wrapped up in the accompanying cabbage leaves, it was very tasty.The Sergeant ordered the chef's special, pumpkin curry. He asked for it spicy, but I think they dialed it back a notch because I asked for my dish not so spicy. He enjoyed it nevertheless.I had the shrimp choo chee on the server's recommendation: deep-fried shrimp topped with red curry paste, bell peppers, serrano peppers and crispy basil. It was also quite tasty, though for me the very rich, distinct flavor became cloying after a while.I walked over to the chest-high wall blocking off the food prep area to shoot some pictures of the chef in action. The staff started making a big ruckus and I took a couple of shots before turning to see if they were making "No picture! No picture!" noises or what. They were grinning and laughing. The ruckus was to get the chef to turn around for me.Way to go, Chef! You're No. 1!